A Rainy Afternoon (Open!)

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The rain came down in tonnes, pounding against the earth like a griffin's thundering steps. Against the rocks they splattered, against the trees they pummeled, bending the leaves to their will. There were no strong wings, just the cold and the rain. Many creatures had taken shelter for the night, concealing themselves in the darkness of their hollows or the tunnels of their dens. The fox peered out of her little cave, tucked away into the roots of an old oak tree. She dipped back inside, however, when a creature passed her by.


The creature was white in color, standing out like a sore thumb against the green foliage. Soaked through, water dribbled off the end of her snout and dived into the leaves to join their brethren, her feathers pressing against her back from the weight of the rain. It stung, so it did, striking her scales and setting them alight with the burn that usually only came from hailstones.

Glancing up at the darkened sky, Athena let out a soft growl directed at the clouds that turned the heavens black. They resembled coal, lumbering across the sky at the speed of fat snails. To put it simply, they weren't going anywhere for a while.

The mud that formed beneath her talons got stuck in her feet and chilled her to the bone. She may have been made for the cold, but the sensation was still unpleasant. Grunting, Athena swished her tail and kept walking, blue eyes scanning what she could see for shelter.

This is such crap.. shifting her gaze to the sky again, Athena had the urge to curse at the clouds. Instead, she merely grimaced and kept walking -more like wading- through the mud. Letting out a single cough, she trudged up a small hill and glanced around. Nothing but grass and trees. Great.

Sighing, the ice dragon spread her wings, face contorting slightly at the horrid sensation of the heavy water sliding off her hide. Gross.. shaking her head, the dragoness went to leap into the air, considering flying above the clouds in the hopes of getting away from the rain.

(Ima jump in this.) 

The storm was miserable, heavy rain, thunder and lightning, and it was perfect. There wasn't much wind to Esridar’s disappointment. But he didn't come just to fly in the storm. If only that was the reason, there is no way that a single creature would be out in this - well, maybe some. He had gone hunting, the shortage of food was bothering him. He felt like doing some good and hunting for a few folks who had little to no food for them or their youngin’s.


 But come on! This storm was so perfect! He loved flying in a storm, he hadn't flown in a thunderstorm for a while but he still remembered how to fly in one without being killed by the trees of electricity that sprung from the clouds every now and then. He felt excitement rise in his chest as he began to feel some curling gusts, ones that would normally accompany some heavy winds. Sweet! At least I get to have some fun while hunting. A loud bang echoed through the sky, thunder. He spotted a flash of light as the lightning came, a wondrous shock of white in the rolling graphite sky, forking down silently to the unsuspecting ground - the thunderous boom of its voice calling it’s warning too late. Esridar did get a feeling of dread, what if someone else were in this storm? He didn't want to deal with any hurt dragons while he was out, even though he was inclined to. He couldn't just leave an injured dragon in this kind of storm.

WHA-BAAM

Lightning shot past him slamming into the ground, roaring in his ears. It was way to close for comfort, even for him. 

Just then a heavy gust tipped him dangerously to the side, causing him to spin downwards for a few moments before he grasped the fringes of a rising wind with his wings. Great ice! I shouldn't let myself get distracted in this storm. Why had he begun to think about other dragons? He should be focusing on hunting and not getting hit by lightning. As he dived down towards the forest to scan the ground for anything, anything to hunt, he swore he caught the scent of a dragon he knew, was it one of the cops that enforced the law around the Kaamil? Probably. Esridar didn't really care to much about it, the other dragon was probably also out hunting. 

After finishing his scanning of the forest he was flying above, he concluded there was nothing to hunt at the moment, and decided to ride of few of the high winds that had picked up until there was. Sky Dancing, he had used to call it when he was young. Esridar expertly navigated the confusing winds, spinning and diving through them, doing a sort of dance with the gusts. He chuckled slightly to himself, oh course he had called it Sky dancing, it was almost as if he was indeed dancing with the wind. He caught the scent of blood. That irony scent that covered up the scents of rainwater and wet leaves and grass. Is someone injured? He stopped flying, hovering in the sky, spotting some dark shapes quite a few wing beats away. Was one of them hurt?

The wind roared, blowing some of her feathers sideways. A few had been detached, burnt off her body, and Athena gazed at the empty space mournfully. If one had asked her, what part of your body are you most proud of? She'd have said her feathers. Now, they were obliterated, and probably wouldn't grow back for several weeks. Wonderful.

Katyusha spoke, and Athena returned her attention to her. "You might be right. We can talk about it after you rest. Do you think you can stand? We need to get you somewhere safer than this." Her brow would crease slightly, tail flicking in thought at the question. After moment, Athena would start to rise, legs trembling with the effort. The pain in her head spiked and numbed all thoughts. Her joints ached and for a moment it appeared she wouldn't be abled to do it, but with a quiet curse, she straightened, standing shakily before the snake-like dragoness.

"Aye," she said with a nod. "I think I saw a ca-" lightning struck once more, weaving through the darkened heavens to strike the ground, and illuminate the shape that had almost been hit by it. Athena squinted, eyes narrowing into thin slits, like crevices in an ocean. That shape was unmistakably dragon-like.

Her hackles rose as a weak growl tore from her lips. Suddenly, she stumbled, one of her back legs giving out, and the wyvern almost fell. She didn't know who it was or why they were there, and that was what scared her. Had she been healthy and not covered in burns, she would have probably ignored him. But a frightened, injured animal was far more dangerous then a healthy one. A sick wolf will attack.

Nausea swirled inside her chest and forced Athena to lower her gaze, dropping her head to focus on the grass. Her vision blurred and for a moment she shut her eyes. I. Hate. Storms. Minus Storm, her best friend and ally, but that was person-speaking. Weather-wise, her opinion of the show of thunder and lightning had dropped dramatically.


(You guys and your amazing posts XD Mine are so short)

Even despite the urgency of the situation, Katyusha forced herself to remain patient. After all, you couldn’t expect a young hatchling to get up and run a 40m race right out of the egg. That was what it was like with sick dragons. Katyusha hated being weighed down like this. A storm this severe was dangerous to be out in, and she was probably risking her own safety by being an idiot and trying to help this rogue. And while Katyusha, in her mind, might claim she was in a hurry for herself, she was more sensitive than she let on. She was actually quite fearful for this rogue, a she herself was rather emotional. But she was probably betraying her own thoughts, and didn’t even know this herself.

When Athena nodded a bit, it restored some hope in Katyusha. She watched determinedly as the wyvern began to try to pull herself up. Katyusha herself was ready to step in and provide a paw at a moment’s notice. And at first, it seemed like Athena would be able to pull herself up on her own. However, nature wasn’t known for being understanding. As soon as the wyvern pulled herself to her feet, another flash of lightning shot out from the darkness. This caused Athena to fall back over.

Katyusha’s claws dug into the ground, a frustrated growl coming from her throat. Darn, she had hoped she wouldn’t have to carry her. Sighing, she slowly approached, beginning to say something, when she noticed a change in the wyvern’s behavior. She seemed more put off, more fearful, and Katyusha could hear a growl coming from her throat. Athena certainly looked much more panicked than she had been several minutes ago. Had she seen something?

Now, Katyusha’s attention had been focused almost entirely on Athena, so she hadn’t noticed the illuminated shape of the stranger. The storm was also far too turbulent to actually smell anything, so she couldn’t pick up the smell of the stranger. Curious, she twitched her ear, looking at the fearful wyvern with a concerned expression, “Is… is everything alright?” she asked cautiously.

(BUUUUMP @whisperingsoul)

As he hovered in the air, the contours and primaries of his wings angling just so to keep his body even in the confusing winds. The membranes of his wings caught the air like a parachute, the combination of these sounds, the wind whipping silently through his feathers, the sound of air colliding with his wings, made some sort of rhythmic beat. This beat however, didn't cover up the sound of the growl from below, amplified by the winds and thrown at his ear slits. He back-winged in a panicked surprise - expecting something to leapt up at him, right into a series of confusing currents and blasting winds, the rhythm he had made that helped him fly in such winds had been lost to him in his slight moment of panic. In the few seconds of free thought he had, before his mind fell to fear, he silently cursed his acute hearing and jumpy-ness. He had thought it useful before. The growl had sounded much louder than it was, amplified by the wind and angry sky. He felt a sickness rise in his chest as he saw the world begin to spin, the tail feathers on the base of his tail fanned out, hoping to stop the swirling winds from spinning him out of control. His attempt at balancing himself failed, and he was sent spinning head over tail towards the trees. Of course this would happen! First flight in a storm in ages and I am going to crash. Just absolutely perfect! He finished the thought as he hit the trees.

The air in his chest seemed to be thrown out of him as he slammed into the first tree, nearly splitting it into two. A loud ringing filled his ears as the sounds of the storm dissipated, covered by the sounds of twigs whipping his face and branches cracking and lodging into his feathers. It had happened so quickly. So fast he had barely anytime to think about what happened as the first tree he hit creaked, the top half falling off the bottom and landing on top of him to add to the experience.
“Ow..” He coughed, "I deserved that one, you fershunken storm!" He swore in Urisa."Stomme stompende stoarm. Myn wurden om te ferûngelokjen. No moat ik mei allegear dreech omgean. Stomme stoarm, heule windige stoarm, de grutste ferrassende fan alle stoarmen. Foar 'e himel, wêrom hat dit no no út alle tiden passe !" Esridar continued to speak in Urisa and swore at the storms like there was no tomorrow, his pounding headache encouraged his slight outburst of rage. He started thinking about the situation he was in, a tree was on top of him, no biggie, he would just have to move it off. He took about a minute to gain his breath back as he pushed himself to his feet, throwing the tree half off his back. Esridar was not a bulky strong dragon, he was rather sleek and not very strong apart from his back legs, if the whole tree had fallen on him, he would’ve been stuck for a bit. He shook his head to clear the ringing in it, he must of hit his head on the ground hard, because everything seemed like it was spinning. A few of his feathered drifted to the ground. Great, its going to take me ages to clear all these leaves and twigs out of my feathers...
I don’t think i’ve broken anything though… This isn’t the worst crash i’ve had. He resisted the urge to laugh to himself, not wanting to attract the attention of whatever had growled at him, causing him to back wing into the roguish winds which had flipped him over.

He remembered the last time he had crashed. It had been a few years ago when he was flying in some heavy winds. Of course, he had become distracted somehow and found himself falling headfirst into a frozen lake. Man, he had a headache after that! Not as bad as the one he had now however.


(gonna hit ya guys with a long posties. This is what happens when I'm left to brainstorm for a while. Didn't know what to post. sorry about the million year wait!) (BTW I'm basing Ursia off of Western Frisian.)

*Bump?*

(Sorryyyyy XD)

Athena heard her saviour's low growl of irritation as she hit the ground with a gasp, sprawling onto her side. The wyvern was consumed by panic for a few moments, not knowing what was going on as her brain reorientated itself and restored balance to the world.

Athena didn't respond to Katyusha's words right away, talons digging into the earth and boring deep holes into the mud as she gazed up at the silhouette in the sky. Against the blackened heavens, it was easy to make out the golden scales that coated the feathered dragon's body. She was unable to tell if the stranger was large or small.

In her delusional state, Athena assumed the worst. It's him.. he's coming to get me! Her sensible side fought for control as she debated on either screaming or trying to attack it. Not that she would succeed. "T..there's a..." she silently gestured with her tail to the distant figure.

As she began speaking, the dragon suddenly spun out of control, flailing as it shot towards earth. Eyes wide, Athena tried to make out the details of it's body as it spiralled down towards the ground. Uh oh.. they're going to crash.. she thought, almost creepily in how calm her tone was, as she observed the disaster that was unfolding before her. She watched with slightly parted jaws as the dragon hit the tree next to them.


Creeeaaaaak.. the trunk split in two and over it went. Athena covered her face with a wing as branches snapped off and, assisted by the wind, blew into her, leaves scattering into the wind. After several moments, the attack of the tree ceased, but the storm did not. It howled and screamed as if it were in agony, observing it's three victims with angry, scornful eyes as the dragon began to move, throwing the tree off him with the heave.

Athena, so taken aback by what she was seeing, could only stare at the male that stood before her, pupils dilating at she observed him. Her wounds were a painful reminder that no matter who he was or why he was here, she needed to be attended to.


Still.. things just got a bit more interesting.



(SO. FRIGIN. SHORT. I'm SO sorry! D:)

(Waiting on @Katyusha)

(Rip my late replies .-.)

To say the storm wasn't at least mildly terrifying was a bit of an understatement. Each crash of thunder, each hiss of lightning, made Katyusha's hackles raise just a bit, her scaly body standing on end. Her shoulders were already tense, and her face was contorted into a frustrated expression. She was also rather close to biting her lower lip out a bit of frustration with their current predicament.

Snow storms, she could handle. Lightning? Not so much.

She was just about to try to pick Athena up, when the icy dragon attempted to speak. She sounded nervous, her eyes wide, terrified. Katyusha barely had time to register what she was trying to say, when suddenly she heard the loud snap of a tree behind her.

Quickly, she snapped around, another howl of thunder rocketing behind them, illuminating the figure of a dragon as it was pinned down by a young tree. Immediately, Katyusha got into a defensive stance, snarling at the dragon's direction.

In the dark, it was hard to tell who it was, but her stance weakened a bit when the female began to recognize the smell of the fallen dragon. She watched as he started to push the tree off him, and rise to his feet. No doubt, he was a Kaamil. That smell was unmistakable.

Regardless, Katyusha remained defensive, protectively placing herself in front of the injured wyvern, growling, her voice rumbling and scratchy.

"Who are you?" she hissed in Kenarun.

Indeed, things had gotten more interesting.




Esridar couldn’t tell who was speaking, was the dragon laying down speaking or the one infront of him? It was to dark to tell until a lighting strike revealed the answer for him. 
For a moment, Esridar had trouble understanding the Kenarun speech, his head with still ringing. He saw the dragon go into a defensive position, he then understood in a flash.
“I-I’m Esridar! I went hunting for the tribe in the storm.” He answered in the same speech and turned to Athena. For a moment he realized he forgot to state he was the tribe leader, oh well, it didn't matter in the situation anyways, he decided.
“Which i’m now realizing was a mistake. Didn’t expect the storm to get this rough.” Didn't expect to be so rusty at flying in storms.. He stopped himself from saying.
Esridar stood and realized the irony blood scent was stronger. 
“Is… she hurt?” He spoke in Kenarun and gestured to the other dragon whom of which he had never seen before, looked hurt, a few feathers scattered the ground. Was it a rogue dragon? Nervousness pricked at his mind. He didn’t have the best… experiences, with rogue dragons. The scent of seared feathers and flesh offered his senses. Was she struck by.. great ice! Great demons of see holes, how did she survive that? He exclaimed with a favorite curse of his mother. 


“Lightning strike?” He asked cautiously to the Kaamil.


*Short post is short*

*Waiting*

Lifting her head up, the dark wyvern felt a light wave of relief when the rain touched upon her shoulders and ran down the delicate spines that traveled down her back. Her wings outstretched to get the full feeling the precipitation that plopped from her and then down to drip off like another raindrop.

Jet black scales shimmered in the rain, almost giving her body a metallic look that would make any blacksmith jealous. A cerulean blue eye and a silver eye helped her navigate through the night, though...sadly...this sight does little to help her in a storm.

Getting an idea, the wyvern stared at the storm-ridden cloud line that stretched along the vast sky like a blanket, but...a puffy blanket? Who could tell really. Would it be drier up there...? Most likely yes, unless this storm is being caused by a dragon above the clouds...

This intrigued her, could there truly be a dragon living above the clouds, controlling the weather? Only one way to find out.

With that being said, Silhouette beat her wings harder...faster...pushing herself higher and higher to the top of the clouds before barrel rolling to make it through their rather thick barrier.

She beat her wings gently, her elongated neck twisting the the ease of a serpent from one side to the next. She could see another dragon, perhaps...one like her trying to escape the storm? Well, rather Silhouette didn't try to get away from the storm...but the dragoness was still so new to this world...so new and so...frightened and intrigued in this realm. She felt her heart beating for the first time since her little life began, she was no baby though...she was actually the same age as her long lost sister, Sonus Decessus. However, she was not "living" in the way others were...she was living in the world of the undead, the Underworld.

Alas, a story for another day...one that she really would rather not remember if she could help it. One day she would, but for now...she was going on an adventure...an adventure to explore and to enjoy herself as she explored this world.

Nothing, not even a little rain could dampen the light that sparkled in the eyes of the shadow wyvern.

At first, Katyusha was hesitant and skeptical of the stranger, her eyes lit with a fiery, protective glare. It was still rather hard to see in the darkness of the storm, and Katyusha had to squint to see the shadowy figure. She continued to quietly growl in his direction, dropping down to her belly, raising her tail high to make her seem intimidating, and be ready to strike under a moment's notice. Meanwhile, in the distance and above them, the storm continued to rumble on.

When the stranger spoke, though, Katyusha was immediately caught off guard, her face lighting up with a mix of confusion and surprise. Esirdar? THE Esridar? What in the sweet depths of Jaggedhorn was he doing here? This had to be at least several hundred miles away from the Kaamil territory! For a moment she was caught in dead silence, until she was finally snapped back into reality, and she angrily shook her head, growling.

"Esridar? Yeah right. You expect me to believe the Kainura himself came all the way out here, to the middle of nowhere, in a thunderstorm?" the Kaamili scoffed, trying to keep her wits about her, and only every now and then glancing back to make sure Athena was still alright and conscious.

Speaking of Athena, Katyusha noticed that the dragon's attention was drifting towards her, and Katyusha's annoyance peaked, "Yes, she's hurt. Unless you're a doctor, or know a good cave around here, I suggest you scram." the Kaamili snarled.

Meanwhile, as all this occurred, the Katyusha remained blissfully unaware of the strange shadow dragon some distance away.

He resisted a chuckle at Katyusha’s reply.
 “You better believe it. I’m more experienced in flying these storms than anyone. I decided I should go hunting for the tribe due to the food supplies being so low. Wanted to help out. Call it a hobby for flying out in these storms." He spoke quickly. He took a quick look around. He knew the area, he had been there before.
"If I remember right, there should be a decent sized cave a few leagues from here, southwestish." Esridar glanced at the two dragons. "On foot it’ll take around thirty minutes or so to get there. Unless you two want to drown out here, that’s where you should head.” He quickly shook the water from his feathers. He glanced at the rogue dragon again, his feathers trembled a bit at the memory of the terrible fight he had had with a group of rogue dragons. He quickly shook the thought from his mind. No use on dwelling on the past now.
(Sorry for the short post. All i could come up with DX)

Hearing that someone was hurt...Silhouette's natural protective instinct kicked in. However, shyness and caution told her not to approach the two dragons near her. The wyvern kept her silver and cerulean orbs on the two dragons nearby at the moment, if they moved a single muscle...she would know. Her aura was not aggressive. The femme's hearing caught the other dragoness's (Katyusha's) request for a doctor or a cave. She didn't have one of those things...the cave. However, she did know how to heal. Approaching the two slowly with a beat of her wings, she spoke gingerly...hoping to not be scorched, frozen...or however else injured.

"Pardon me, but I know how to heal...if that is what you need." Silhouette offered.